The Curse of Perfectionism-or All or Nothing Thinking

The curse of perfectionism- or all or nothing thinking. 

I don’t know about you, but I find myself falling prey to the myth of perfection around this time of year. Since we are now on the back half of January how are all those resolutions you made doing? Have you been able to stay on track most of the time?

Now actually if that is true then I’d say you are doing really well. However, for the perfectionist “most of the time” is often times not good enough, and can be paramount to not at all. For some reason it’s either all or nothing when it comes to reaching your goals. 

Once I gained four pounds on a cruise, and threw my hands up in despair. I just gave up, and I was thirty pounds heavier the next time I walked into a Weight Watchers meeting. My all or nothing thinking had kept me from just moving on and losing the four pounds I’d gained. “What’s the point?” seemed to be my mantra. 

However, don’t fall victim to allowing “the perfect to be the enemy of the good.” The truth is that what we do most of the time really outweighs what we do every now and then. So if you are still walking more days than not, or refraining from a daily dessert and leaving it for the weekend then beating yourself up in the long run doesn’t help. 

Hopefully, you are still moving forward in whatever you hoped to do differently this year. Be aware if you suffer from “all or nothing thinking” and don’t let it get in the way of living the life you truly want.